Mission Orion: The Travel through Time

Chapter 24 | Civilization

My head felt like it was hit to the wall repeatedly. I opened my eyes to find the wall blasted to pieces. I saw the rest of my crewmates struggling to their feet. "You guys alright?" I asked, trying to get on my feet. The rest of the crew replied that they were alright and I looked around just to find Schrotanic on the ground, not moving a muscle. I rushed over to him and knelt down beside him. Leo rushed over and was behind me in a second. "Check his pulse." I instructed Leo. Leo grabbed his hand and checked his pulse. "He's alive, but his pulse is weak. He needs medical assistance immediately." Leo replied, worried. Now, you might wonder why we're helping out the guys who abducted us. The logic is just simple. We help these guys, they may repay that debt. But this guy right here was probably insignificant to whoever was on top of the food chain. And we're humans, helping others comes to us naturally. We tried lifting Schrotanic with his arms around our necks. There was a huge gash on his forehead and it looked ugly. Leo was right, we needed to get him to the medical facility immediately. But the problem was, we didn't know where it was. "Where is the goddamn medical facility?" Reneesh asked me. "I don't know. It'll be better if we get out of this building, we'll probably find someone who could help us." I replied. Just as we started moving when Emanta came running towards us. "You guys alright?" She asked, sounding breathless. "We're alright, but your friend Schrotanic over here, he needs immediate medical assistance." I replied. Emanta had one look at Schrotanic and gestured us to follow her.

We made it out of the building just as another missile hit the building, blasting it from inside. "What's happening?" I shouted at Emanta. "Someone hacked into our primary defence systems and planted an exploit which the other army had discovered. They made use of it and started pounding us with missiles." She replied, not bothering to turn back. I looked at Leo, the person responsible for the hacking, and he shrugged his shoulders. "Don't blame me. I didn't know this would happen." He said. "But they're close to defeat. They have just one ship remaining and our fighters are pounding it with explosives ." Emanta continued. My shoulders were becoming sore carrying Schrotanic all the way to the other building. She led us into another building which she said could withstand hundred times the power of the bombs which were hitting us right now. We went down the elevator to an undergeound facility. I was taken aback the moment the doors opened. There were hundreds of injured soldiers in the medical facility and some of them were injured seriously. There was a man in the bed near me whose hand was cut off from his shoulder. I looked away, not able to look at them anymore. Two doctors with a stretcher came to us and shifted Schrotanic into the stretcher.

Just then an announcement came over the speakers announcing that the last ship was taken down and that normal activities were to be continued with. Emanta led us out of the building and led us to a spot behind a few bushes where no one could see us. "What did you mean by trust no one?" I asked her, remembering about our previous conversation. Just as she was about to reply, Bolius appreared out of the bushes. "What are you doing here, Emanta?" He asked her. "Schrotanic is seriously injured. He's in The Medical Bay One." She replied. Bolius didn't speak for a few seconds. He then gestured a guard to come over. "This guard will take care of these humans. You get back to where you are stationed." He finally replied. "What's wrong if I stay here, Bolius?" She asked him. "I don't want you to stay here because I don't trust you. Now quit talking and get back to work." He replied to her, harshly. She shot of glance of hatred at him and stormed back to the building. Bolius looked at us, one by one. "You guys okay?" He asked. "Yeah." I replied. "And umm... well.." he struggled. "What?" I asked him. "Thanks for helping Schrotanic." He replied. "That's okay." I replied, smiling. "He's been like a brother to me since I was a kid. I couldn't have made it here if it wasn't for him." He said, with a tear rolling down his cheek. I was shocked. I never expected Bolius of all people to get emotional in front of us. "Why are you doing this to us?" I ask him. "We have orders. You don't know what happens when a person disobeys an order." He tried, looking at the ground. The guard put his gun down and sat on a nearby boulder. "Why can't you help us?" I asked him. He looked me in the eye and said "You don't understand do you? I would be executed if they get to know that I told you all this. They would torture us in ways you can't imagine if they found out that someone was helping you." "Who are they?" I ask him. "The world leader, he lives back on our home planet." Bolius replied. "Who controls this base?" I asked him. "Schrotanic is the head of operations here but Montwik controls all the bases on this planet." He replied. "So, Schrotanic has to obey Montwik, right?" I ask him. He nodded in agreement. "What if he doesn't?" I asked him. "He could be executed as well." Bolius replied. I suddenly remembered Emanta telling me about not to trust anyone except Montwik and her. Could that mean Montwik was on our side? Does that mean that he would help us? But that's a long shot. "I have to get going." Bolius said, interrupting my thoughts. "Don't tell a soul about what I told you guys. My life depends upon that." He continued. With that he grabbed his weapon and made his way into the building. I looked at the guard and thought about grabbing some answers from me. He looked at me and seemed to have guessed where the conversation was going to head. "I am just a soldier. I don't know a single damn thing here. Don't even bother asking me." He said, as if he read my mind. I smiled again, gesturing the crew to sit down on the ground. The guard too sat down beside us. I looked at him and decided to start a conversation with him. "So you support what they're doing to us?" I asked. "No one with a sane mind and a good heart would support what the kenjah is doing to you." He replied. "Who's kenjah?" I asked. "Kenjah is the world leader ." He replied. "You're not from The Crux army are you." He asked, looking at me. "What's The Crux Army?" I asked him back. "The army we, The Vortex Amry, the fighting against." He replied. "What makes you think we're from The Crux Army?" I asked him. "That's what the kenjah is telling everyone back home. He says that you're a species that The Crux Amry developed even though they are the ones against this whole cloning agenda and are using you to spy on us under a false story that your planet is dying." He replied. "We're definitely not from The Crux Army nor from any other army. We're just another species searching for another home." I replied. "Well I believe you. And by the way, you know something?" He asked, looking at me right in the eye again. "What?" I asked. "You're not the only species to undergo this treatment. There were three species before you which came searching for a new home and ended up being destroyed here. I still remember, there were five people aboard that ship. They kept them in separate rooms and they tried to escape and got caught my Schrotanic. He made them kneel down, right here, in the same spot you're sitting right now, and shot each one of them with his gun in their head. The captain was pleading him not to do it. Just when he pointed his gun at the captain, he let out a scream that still haunts me in my nightmares. I remember his last words before Schrotanic shot him in the head, he said 'Your end is near. You're all doing to die soon but you will suffer before your end comes." Schrotanic just let out an evil laugh. I remember his name too. It was Poshdince. He was the captain, a brave one. Schrotanic is one hell of an evil guy. But he saved Bolius during the great fallout. And Bolius treats him like a brother, but is against his cruelty and his policies. He's begged him to stop destroying civilisations but Schrotanic would just push him aside. Bolius is split between two worlds. " The guard said. "My name is Jake by the way." He said. "That's a very ... human name." I replied. "I worked for The Crux Army before our unit was captured. I was forced to work here. And my name, yes, it's a human name. That's because.. umm..." he stuttered. "What?" I asked him. "My mother, she is a human. I know you're not one of the Crux Army's creation. You are the result of the kenjah's nature of finding fun in evil."

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